What is Librarian?

Librarian is an optional feature for “On My Mac” sources. Librarian scans your files to build a database of information about them, which it saves in a data file that is created in your source folder.

Librarian does not modify your audio files.

Librarian provides the following features for “On My Mac” sources:

• Search
• Browse by artist, album, song, and playlist
• Pins and favorites
• Auto Skip
• Journal
• Play counts¹
• Date last played¹

You can choose to use an “On My Mac” source without Librarian, but the above features will not be available in that case. Folder browsing is always available for “On My Mac” sources regardless of whether or not Librarian is enabled.

¹ These items additionally require “activity logging” to be enabled in source settings, which is off by default.

Does Librarian require Radiccio Plus!?

No, Librarian is free.

We hope you will love using Radiccio, and we think Librarian is one of the best things about Radiccio, so we want everyone to enjoy it.

However, note that if you want to add more than one “On My Mac” source, Plus! is required.

How often does Librarian scan my files?

By default, once per week. But you can change this in Radiccio settings (from the menubar: Radiccio > Settings).

How does Librarian work? Where does the data go?

Librarian “scans” your files: Basically, it looks in the folder that you specified when you added the source, then it looks at all of the files and subfolders, and all of those subfolders’ subfolders, and so on. It gathers all of the information about the files and puts it into a data file. The data file allows us to provide features that would not otherwise be possible; for example: search, browse by artist and album, favorites, journal, and more.

The data file is named Librarian.radicciodb and you can find it in your source folder. (If you don’t see it, you might have checked the box to hide it. You can go to your Source Settings and uncheck that box to un-hide it. Or, you may have never enabled Librarian in the first place, in which case it won’t have been created yet.)

Don’t move or rename this file, or Radiccio won’t be able to find it.

Radiccio does not transmit, upload, or share this file, or the data within. It is stored in your source folder, at the location you have specified. We do not want your data; it belongs to you. For more information, see our privacy policy.

For advanced technical details about the file format, click the button.

This file is actually a “package” (sometimes called a “bundle”). That means it contains additional other files inside it. In Finder, you can control-click the file and select “Show Package Contents” if you want to peek inside. Please be careful and don’t change or remove anything!

The main place where data is stored inside the package is the file database-v1.sqlite3. (The number after v might change in the future.) This is a database file in SQLite3 format, which is a very common format; so common, in fact, that the Library of Congress has designated it as an acceptable format for long-term storage of archival data. Be extremely careful with this file! There are many tools available which can open this type of file, show you its contents, convert it to other formats, make changes, etc.; but you should never make changes to it or Radiccio may behave unexpectedly or even stop working entirely, in which case, we may not be able to help you.

If you really want to play around with the data, please feel free to make a copy and work on the copy instead. To be safe, don’t ever open the original, only the copy.

macOS does not provide any built-in apps that are capable of opening an SQLite3 file, so you would need to obtain a third-party app. This is left as an exercise for the reader. Do not try to open it with an app like TextEdit; the data will be unreadable and you could damage the file.

We want to be open and transparent with all of this because it is your data and we feel it is important that you have access to it, so you can do what you want with it, such as convert it to other formats or use it with other software. But please do heed our cautions above so that you don’t impair Radiccio’s ability to function properly.

Is Librarian required in order to see file metadata (tags) in Radiccio?

No.

When Librarian is disabled, Radiccio reads and displays file metadata as needed, when you browse to a folder and Radiccio loads its contents.

When Librarian is enabled, Radiccio reads the folder contents and metadata from the Librarian database, which can be much faster for large folders containing many files. (For a typical album’s amount of songs, the difference is insignificant.) Only if you click the reload button does Radiccio reload from folders and files.

Either way, Radiccio displays the same metadata from your files.

Does Librarian fetch missing metadata for my files, like artist names or cover art?

No. Librarian only uses metadata that is already present in the file.

If your files have missing metadata, there are a few things you can do:

• Use an app like Meta by Nightbirdsevolve to fix individual files or folders
• Use an app like MusicBrainz Picard to fix your entire collection of files
• Use server software like Plex or Jellyfin, which builds its own database of metadata and can fetch metadata from external sources. You can then add your Plex or Jellyfin server as a source in Radiccio (instead of an “On My Mac” source).

(We are not affiliated with any of these other products, and do not receive any compensation from them.)

After moving or renaming a file, I am no longer seeing the previously saved favorite, pin, journal, play count, last played, etc. for songs or albums

Librarian identifies this type of data by the file path (relative to where the Librarian.radicciodb file is located). If the name or location of the audio file changes, it causes the Librarian data to no longer be associated with that audio file.

The data has not been lost. It still exists in the Librarian database. If you change audio file’s name and location back to what it originally was, and then re-scan, Librarian will re-associate it and you will see it again in the app.

If you need to rename or move a file, but it is important to preserve this data, we recommend taking a screen shot of how it appears in Radiccio beforehand. Afterwards, you can re-scan and then manually make the changes needed.

If you find this happens to you frequently enough to be a problem, please write to us. We would like to understand your usage patterns better so that we can improve your experience: feedback@radiccio.music

Can I move my entire source folder?

Yes. Librarian data is relative to where the Librarian.radicciodb file is located. So as long as all of the audio files are still in the same place relative to that file, you should not have any problems.

In Radiccio, you will need to go to File > Source Settings and update the location of the source folder.

Is it possible to scan a subset of files?

You can scan a specific subfolder, which can be useful if you have just added new audio files and want to listen to them right away. It can also be useful if you have made metadata changes to a small number of files.

To do this, go to File > Librarian > Scan Folder… Or go to the app settings > Librarian > Scan Folder…

Keep in mind the following:

• The folder must already be part of a source
• The folder must not be part of more than one source
• Files that have been moved or deleted will not be detected when scanning this way. To detect those changes, you’ll need to do a full scan.

Can I use Librarian with Apple Music, Plex, or Jellyfin?

No, Librarian only works with “On My Mac” sources.

Other source types already provide some of Librarian’s features, such as search and browsing, so Librarian would be redundant to an extent. We try to do our best to support each source type’s available capabilities. However, there are some unique features only available with Librarian.